His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Their hearts are distracted, and those who have wronged conspired secretly. Is this anything but a human being like you? Will you come to magic while you see?" "My Lord knows the saying in the heavens and the earth, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing."

His saying: "Distracted" is a state after a state. The grammarians have differed regarding the parsing of His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "And those who have wronged conspired secretly" - Sibawayh's view is that the pronoun in His saying: "conspired" is the subject, and that "those who have wronged" is an alternate for it. He said that the expression "The locusts have eaten me" is not in the Qur'an. Abu Ubaidah and others said: The 'wa' and 'alif' indicate that the subject is plural, like the 'ta' in your saying: "Hind has stood up," and "those who have wronged" is the subject of "conspired." This is according to the language of those who said: "The locusts have eaten me." A group said: The pronoun is the subject, and "those who have wronged" is elevated by an implied verb, which is: "Those who conspired are those who have wronged," or "Those who said are those who have wronged."

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And stopping at "the secret conversation" in this saying and in the first saying is good, but it is not good in the second. A group said: "Those who have wronged" is elevated by an implied subject, which is: "They are those who have wronged," and stopping with this is good. Another group said: "Those who have wronged" is in the accusative case with an implied verb, which is: "I mean those who have wronged." Another group said: "Those who have wronged" is in the genitive case as an alternate for "the people" in His saying: "The reckoning has drawn near for the people."

(p-153) Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And these are weak statements.

And the meaning of: "They conspired secretly": They spoke among themselves in secret and in private, some of them to others. Abu Ubaidah said: "Conspired secretly" means: They revealed, and it is one of the opposites. Then the Most High clarified the matter they conspired about, which is the saying of some of them to others: "Is this anything but a human being like you?" Then some of them said to others - in a manner of reproach regarding ignorance -: "Will you come to magic?" Meaning: What he says, they likened it to magic. The meaning is: Will you follow magic? "While you see?" Meaning: You perceive that it is magic, and you know that. As if they said: You are misguided while you have clear evidence and knowledge. Then Allah, the Most High, commanded His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, to say to them and to all people: "My Lord knows the saying in the heavens and the earth," meaning: He knows your sayings, and He is on the lookout for recompense for them.

Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu Amr, and Ibn Amer read: "Say, my Lord," while Hamzah and Al-Kisai read: "He said, my Lord" in the sense of reporting about His Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him. There is a difference regarding Asim, and Al-Tabari, may Allah have mercy on him, said: Both are well-known readings in the readings of the cities.